CLEARWATER - The Clearwater Phillies have a new state-of-the-art stadium and a new high-profile manager.
Monday, the team revealed it also has a new nickname and logo.
As expected, the team is now the Clearwater Threshers. The announcement was made in rightfield of the $28-million, 7,000-seat stadium scheduled for completion Feb. 6. The first Florida State League game played there will be April 8.
Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt made his first public appearance as manager of the minor-league club and modeled a sand-colored home jersey that reads THRESHERS in indigo, navy, peach and scarlet across the front.
"This is an exciting time to be part of the organization," Schmidt said. "As the saying goes, timing is everything."
Attending were Phillies president and chief executive officer David Montgomery, general manager Ed Wade and assistant general manager for scouting and player development Mike Arbuckle.
For two years, the minor-league team has considered shedding the Phillies moniker in favor of a nickname that would distinguish it from the parent club, said John Timberlake, the Phillies director of Florida operations.
But the idea didn't come to fruition until the city of Clearwater agreed to build a stadium to keep the Phillies in town for 21 more years.
"This will be our 20th year playing in the Florida State League, and everybody knows who the Phillies are," Timberlake said. "We get a lot of confusion, believe it or not, that the Clearwater Phillies name is really spring training. We wanted something of our own.
"We're moving into this beautiful facility with 9,000 cars passing by every day and wanted a name where people in the community could say, "This is my team.' "
In May, fans began voting on the name change on the team's Web site, www.clearwaterphillies.com helping whittle the list from 40 to four.
The names on the short list are Barracudas, Beach Dogs, Kingfish and Sand Sharks.
Timberlake said the team had copyright issues with those four names, which delayed the process.
"We ran into some major roadblocks with some of these other names," Timberlake said. "But we liked the whole idea of a shark from the beginning. You know, Jaws music as you enter the park, 70 attacks this summer, so on and so forth."
In the summer, Timberlake met with Plan B, a branding company in San Diego that was instrumental in designing other minor-league logos. The nickname and logo were finalized in September.
In addition to an increase in attendance, the name change could boost revenues. The latest trend with sports teams, particularly minor-league baseball teams, is choosing a quirky name to cash in on the lucrative souvenir business. The merchandising boom has seen apparel sales grow from $2.5-million in 1992 to $38-million spent in the minor leagues last year.
"I think the old name had just run its course," Timberlake said. "It was time. We wanted something of our own to market."
